FEEDING. 349 



within, and see if the base idolatry of gold has not far more 

 to do with your whole course of thought and action, than 

 any love of wife or children, relatives or friends ! 



A sermon ! does some one exclaim ? Would that it 

 might be to some of my readers a word " fitly spoken," 

 " like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 



The prudent Apiarian will always regard the feeding of 

 bees, except the little given them by way of encouragement, 

 as an evil to be submitted to, only when absolutely necessary ; 

 and will very much prefer to obtain his supplies, from what 

 Shakspeare has so beautifully termed the " merry pillage " 

 of the blooming fields, than from the more costly stores of 

 the confectioner or grocer. If not engaged in the rapid 

 increase of stocks, he will seldom see a season so unfavor- 

 able as to oblige him to purchase food for his bees, unless 

 he chooses to buy a cheap article, to replace the choicer 

 honey of which he has deprived them. As soon, however, 

 as he commences a rapid multiplication of stocks, he must 

 calculate upon feeding great quantities of honey to his bees. 

 Before he attempts this on a large scale, let me once more 

 give him a friendly caution, and if possible, persuade him to 

 try very rapid multiplication with only a few of his stocks. 

 In this way, he may experiment to his heart's content, with- 

 out running the risk of seriously injuring his whole Apiary, 

 and may not only gain the skill and experience which will 

 enable him subsequently to conduct a rapid increase, on a 

 large scale, but may learn whether he is so situated, that be 

 can profitably devote to it, the time and money which it will 

 inevitably require. 



Before giving directions for feeding bees when a rapid 



increase of colonies is aimed at, I shall first show in what 



manner weak swarms may be fed in the Spring. If they 



are in the common hives, a small quantity of liquid sweets 



2Q 



